


Snowburn

by ShamanicShaymin



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Confused Jeff Andonuts, Confused Tony, Do You Want to Build a Snowman but without the angst and agony, Fluff, Jeff being an awkward nerd, Let's Nerd Out About Plants and UV Rays, M/M, Pre-Game Earthbound, Snowmen, Sunburn, gay boys being cute, tony being adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 06:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShamanicShaymin/pseuds/ShamanicShaymin
Summary: Unfortunately, you can still fall victim to sunburns in Winters. Luckily for Tony, Jeff can fix more than just machines. Takes place before the beginning of the game.





	Snowburn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youjik33](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youjik33/gifts).



> Seeing your prompt made me so happy! I've missed writing Jeff/Tony, so I was more than thrilled to dip my toes back into Earthbound fanfiction again. I hope you like what I've written! Happy 30th Mother Anniversary! :)

“Jeff! It's beautiful outside today!” Tony cried. “The snow’s wet enough, so everyone’s playing and having snowball fights outside! Would you like to build a snowman with me?”

Jeff thought about it. Sure enough, the sun was peeking out of the (usually gray) sky, and he could hear the hustle and bustle and faint chatter of boys outside his window. Then he looked at the mess cluttered all around him: first was his open toolbox, which spilled an assortment of nuts and bolts. Then there were his screwdrivers and wrenches along with various nails and pushpins waiting for use. A hunk of metal sat beside Jeff’s desk, without a clue to a passing observer what it was meant to be. But Jeff had a train of thought, and if he didn’t catch the caboose of it, he won’t remember it and he’ll waste another day straining his brain for a solution again. Even if he took notes, he’ll have to find it among the pile of other notes for other projects, and good luck to him if he can figure out which is which.

“I’m sorry Tony.” he said. “I’m finally getting somewhere with this project, and I don’t want to lose my progress. I don’t know how long it’ll take me…”

“It’s okay, Jeff! You do what you need to do.” Tony said, pulling gloves over his hands. He wrapped a pink scarf around his neck before heading toward the door and waving to him. “I’ll come back if I find anything interesting you might like. See you!”

“See you...” Jeff started, but like a firecracker, Tony was out. He turned back to his project and resumed work.

That Tony… he was different from other boys he knew. Another person might have told him to stop and take a break or keep bugging him until he said yes. A nosy adult might go on about how the sun was shining and the birds were singing and he can’t waste his time staying indoors. They might even laugh. Worse, they might express disappointment at his lack of willingness to socialize and dismiss his inventions-in-progress as useless junk, which only made him even _more_ reclusive than before.

But Tony didn’t do that. He never claimed to know what Jeff was doing or any of the things he was making, but he was curious to see how he did it. While he was saddened Jeff might not always have time to talk, he seemed content enough to be by his side, like studying quietly or doing his homework. He understood how complicated an invention could be, and would give space if he needed to. He’d bring cookies and a glass of milk so he wouldn’t forget to eat. One could say Tony… admired Jeff.

Jeff wasn’t used to admiration. Yet it touched him that Tony felt this way about him. Jeff had trouble believing praise and was too humble to accept it. But with Tony… he could _almost_ accept it. 

About an hour or two later, his best friend burst back into their room.

“Hey Jeff! Oh my gosh… it’s amazing! The snow is perfect!” Tony gasped. Despite being indoors, Jeff could almost see the white puff of Winters air from his mouth. “I’ve been working hard on a snowman… I just need to dress him up before I start another one. Here, I found this! It’s not much, but you might find it useful.”

He gave Jeff an oddly-shaped wooden board with a rusty nail sticking out of it.

“Thanks Tony.” Jeff smiled. He examined the object as Tony dug through his drawers and their shared closet. To most people, this board was useless. But to Jeff, it had the potential to be just the part he needed. He fixed many a broken thing and designed it into something new altogether—even a tossed spraycan could be worth something. He wasn’t sure what he could do with the board yet, and the rusty nail would need de-oxidizing before it could be any good, but he knew Tony’s heart was in the right place. For now, Jeff set the board aside.

“Hey Jeff?” Tony asked. “Do you have an old pair of glasses you don’t wear anymore?”

“I think so…” Jeff answered, rummaging through his toolbox. “What for?”

“Oh, you’ll see!”

“Here you go.” Jeff said, fishing out the glasses and dropping them in an extra black hat Tony held out for him.

“Thank you Jeff!” Tony beamed. “Oh, happy day! I’ll be back soon!”

Of course, Jeff doubted finishing a second snowman would happen “soon,” but he wasn’t going to argue the technicalities of that. Once again, Tony was out the door.

~

“My face hurts.” Tony complained.

“Really?” Jeff asked. He had finally taken a break from his invention, so he stopped for hot cocoa with marshmallows with his friend.

“Yeah.” Tony nodded. “I constantly itch, but if I scratch it, it hurts.” Tony’s face and ears _did_ look a shade pinker than usual…

“I think I know what’s wrong,” Jeff said, standing up. “Did you put on sun cream before you went outside?”

“No...” Tony answered. “What does that have to do with my face?”

“That explains it,” Jeff confirmed. “I’ll be right back. I got just the thing!” The genius searched their room for the first-aid kit and came back with a bottle of lime-green gel. He squeezed a handful onto his palm. “It’s aloe vera. It grows in desert regions like Scaraba and people would break the leaves and use them to cure burns.”

“I don’t understand, Jeff,” said Tony. “I thought Winters would be the last place anyone would get a sunburn. It’s not even summer season!” He couldn’t help a small gasp as Jeff cupped his face, the cool gel seeping into his stinging skin.

“You’d be surprised,” Jeff explained, carefully applying the aloe. “The sun never stops shining, even when it’s cloudy. Ultraviolet radiation is stronger here in Winters because we’re at a higher elevation than other countries—except Dalaam—and covered in snow and ice. UV rays get reflected in the snow and ice and bounce onto your skin. It’s hard to know since we’re usually covered up, but that's why skiers wear sunglasses and such. The light from the snow can hurt their eyes. That kind of sunburn—the one you get in winter—is called a _snowburn._ ”

“I see…” Tony replied in awe. “That explains why everything was so bright today! I had to hold my arm out to cover my eyes or else I just squint.”

“I could ask Maxwell for a pair of sunglasses.” Jeff offered. “It uh… won’t exactly make you look cool, but it’ll protect your eyes.”

“I’ll think about it…” But mostly, Tony was thinking about how good it felt as Jeff took care of him: the way his hands brushed his cheeks, the tenderness of his fingers as they rubbed the aloe into the shell of his ears, the small circles he made on his nose, the cool sweep of his palm across his forehead. Did one indulge in the touch of their best friend like this? If he blushed, he thanked the gods that the sunburn had hidden it.

“What about your neck?” Jeff asked. “It looks a little pink too.”

“Sure!” Tony nodded. “I guess maybe I shouldn’t have given my scarf to the snowman I made…”

“We can always go down and pick it up if you want,” Jeff said, squeezing out more gel.

“No, it’s okay—ahh!” Tony gasped as the cold aloe pressed against his neck.

“Are you all right?” Jeff cried. “Does it hurt?”

“No no, it’s fine!” Tony assured. “It’s just—it’s just that my neck is sensitive, that’s all.” A thought occurred to him. “Is that why you stay inside a lot, Jeff? Do you get burned easily?”

“Well…” Jeff considered it as he continued rubbing in the gel. “I suppose that could be one of the reasons… I have very pale skin, after all. But mostly when I do go out, even while wearing sun cream, I have a tendency to… freckle. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“I don’t think it’s embarrassing,” Tony said. “I like your freckles.”

“Are you sure?” Jeff blinked. “You don’t think these freckles make me look… nerdy?”

Tony stared at him as though he told him he robbed a bank.

“Jeff… I’d rather have freckles than a snowburn.”

“I suppose freckles _would_ be better.” A small smile curved Jeff’s lips.

“They are! At least they don’t hurt!” Tony gently shoved Jeff, causing the genius to chuckle a little.

“Thanks Tony... Anyway, that should do it! How do you feel now?”

“Much better! Oh Jeff… I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

“Just remember to wear sun cream, okay? You’ll be fine.” Jeff smiled.

“I will! Thank you so much!”

~

“Hey, uh… Jeff?” Tony piped after the two of them finished their cocoa.

“Yes Tony?”

“I was wondering if… no. It’s stupid.”

“It can’t be. What is it?”

“Before I came here to live in Snow Wood, I used to get hurt a lot.” Tony recalled. “I fell down and cried all the time, but my Mom always gave me a kiss to make my scrapes and such feel better. I don’t know if it actually did anything, but it always cheered me up.”

“It sounds like she cares about you a lot.”

“Yeah. Now I’m here, and… I suppose I’m too old for that now. But I still miss my Mom and I wish she could be here, just for a moment.”

“I never knew my Mom. I don’t know my Dad—Dr. Andonuts, I mean—either. They say he’s a genius and compare me to him all the time. But I don’t understand why he left me here, or why he’s never come to visit me. They say he’s busy all the time, but still…” Jeff stared into his empty mug. “...I would like to meet him. Even if it’s only once in ten years.”

“I can’t imagine not having a Mom or Dad care about you. I hope you do meet your Dad someday, Jeff.”

“Thanks Tony. Maybe I’ll see your family one day too.”

“But I was just thinking… if Mom knew I got sunburned, she’d take care of me like you did. Then she’d give me a kiss.”

“So you’re saying… you want me to kiss you?”

“Uhh… well…” Tony’s face burned all over again. “It’s… more of a family thing? Like I said, it’s stupid. And it doesn’t really fix anything, it’s—!”

“I can give you a kiss if that’s what you want.”

“R-Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Of course.”

“You—You really don’t have to. Not if you think it’s dumb—!”

“I don’t know what it’s like having parents. I can’t guarantee I’ll be as good as your Mom, but I still want to try. If it’ll help ease the homesickness just a little bit, I know it’ll be worth it.”

“O-Okay Jeff. If you want to, that’s fine.”

What Tony received was _not_ what he expected at all. His mother tended to kiss the bandaged wound, or peck him on the cheek or nose. But this… Tony’s eyes widened as Jeff leaned forward and pressed his mouth over his. Every goosebump stood on end and all the snowburns in the world couldn’t compare to the heat enveloping his body. Jeff didn’t move and neither did he. Tony’s eyes drooped closed, allowing himself to absorb the kiss fully. Jeff’s lips were so warm and comforting… was it possible for his heart to beat that fast? Was it possible to be this excited and delighted and needy? This was the furthest thing from familial, it was something different altogether, and yet Tony didn’t mind. In fact, he… relished it. He had wanted it all this time, but he never knew it existed until now. And he didn’t want it to stop.

There was a light smacking sound between their lips as Jeff separated from Tony, and the genius’s face was as pink as his friend’s snowburn.

“Is this… good enough?” Jeff breathed.

Tony rapidly nodded.

~

The next day, Jeff and Tony showed each other their creations. Jeff had built a robot with giant hands to work as a portable snow plow—unfortunately, Jeff hadn’t taken every humidity setting into account, and rather than clearing a pathway out of Snow Wood, the robot trapped itself in a thick blocky corridor of its own making (back to the drawing board!) Tony’s snowmen were much more successful… one wore a black hat and pink scarf like Tony did, and the other bore the glasses he borrowed so it could represent Jeff. It almost looked like their stick arms were holding hands… why this made both Jeff and Tony blush was something they couldn’t understand.

The snowmen eventually melted and Jeff had moved on to other projects. But neither he or Tony had ever forgotten the kiss. Tony replayed the memory over and over in his mind, wondering if he had fallen in love with his best friend. Jeff felt awkward once he learned he went a little too far for what was supposed to “kiss it better,” and yet… he’d be lying if he said he regretted it. Did he want to do something like this with Tony again—a _real_ kiss this time?

Regardless, after Jeff was called by Paula and he joined the Chosen Four on their quest to save the world, the memory of the kiss lingered like the aloe vera on Tony’s skin and reminded him and his best friend of each other when it got dark and lonely. That was something they’d always be grateful for.


End file.
